Spirit Dancer Canoe Journeys

Spirit of Adventure

Biography of Chris Cooper

Chris Cooper Professional Guide, Explorer and Photographer

Chris Cooper: Biography
Chris has been in the professional guiding business for over 30 years organizing high-end custom expeditions to areas in Canada’s High Arctic and further afield. His expeditions have included: winter ski expeditions in remote areas in British Columbia and Canoe programs for Corporations, Private schools, Public schools, and ESL schools.

On March 31, 2007 Chris was inducted into the Ridge/Meadows Hall of Fame.

Chris was instrumental in opening up the Voyageur Canoe business in Western Canada and owned the largest fleet of Historical Voyageur Canoes in Canada. He has had the opportunity of being a guest lecturer / speaker to many organisations over the past 20 years.

In 2006 Chris travelled overseas on a lecture circuit to the UK to speak about his adventures and to discuss the British Isles Canoe Journey for 2008/2012.

Originally from the village of Oxenhope, Yorkshire, England, Chris moved to Canada in 1957 with his parents to Maple Ridge where it has since been his home.

His interest in the outdoors originated in the UK and has been with him ever since, this first started with backpacking and hiking in his early teens and progressed to mountaineering endeavours which has taken him around the World. Although his love for the mountains has always been with him, he took up back country skiing in the early 70s. Chris has had the opportunity to see some extraordinary places which are wild and remote – especially Canada’s High Arctic.

Some of these areas include several visits – on skis and kayaks – to Baffin Island, Ellesmere Island, Devon Island, Coburg Island and Banks Island in Canada’s Western Arctic. Some of these visits have been very lengthy; up to six weeks in the field and hundreds of kilometres long. His photography & films tell the story of these visits.

Chris has been involved with water sports since the early seventies when he spent some of his summers paddling kayaks around the shoreline of West Vancouver.

Since that time, Chris has had so many interesting journeys mostly by Canoe, large Canoes of 30ft in length and longer, his most outstanding challenge was in 2004 when he paddled his new 42ft Montreal Canoe from Petersburg, Alaska to Vancouver, a journey that took 105 days to complete. This Canoe was custom built for the challenges of open ocean paddling and preparing for his British Isles Canoe journey in 2008/2012. Some of the more interesting Canoe journeys are listed below.

Some highlights of paddling Big Canoes in the province
of BC and around the world.

1984 Thompson River training for the 1985 Historical Canoe journey: Fort St.
James to Fort Langley.

1985 Paddling the Stewert River, Nechaco River, Fraser River Fort St. John to
Fort Langley

1986 Dragonboat Racing at Expo False Creek with the Lotus Sports Club

1987 Whitewater ( 10 ) Trips on the Thompson River from Savona to Spences Bridge
Organizer

1988 Winner of the Dragonboat Finals in False Creek Vanc. Qualifying for International
Hong Kong Races

Media
and Film

In addition to so many fine experiences and adventures Chris has had the opportunity
to be hosted in many magazines and newspapers some of these are Canadian Geographic,
Adventurous magazine, Explore magazine, BC Business, Kanawa magazine, Western
Canoeing magazine, High UK magazine, The Vancouver Sun, The Province Newspaper,
The Victoria Times, Ketchikan Daily News, The Daily News, The Petersburg Pilot,
The Times, The MR News, Scottish Islands Explorer Magazine, I I Orkney Magazine.

Chris has also had the opportunity to be interviewed on Global Television
via satellite telephone from Ellesmere Island, also hosted in the studio on
the morning news hour Global TV twice in 2005, CBC National television summer
of 2005 and ZDF German National television, BBC Radio Cornwall April 2006 (
Lawerence Reid ) show, Chris has also been hosted on several film documentaries
most recently a two week assignment ZDF Film documentary on the BC Coast.

Recently Chris has appeared on Scottish Television Film Documentaries and radio features with BBC Orkney and BBC Shetland.

Film maker Donald Jonasson has also made two films in 2009 and 2011 featuring Chris and the Spirit Dancer journeys in Orkney and Shetland: